Proverbs 25:17

17 Don’t visit your neighbors too often, or you will wear out your welcome.

Proverbs 25:17 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 25:17

Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbour's house
Not but that it is commendable to be neighbourly and friendly, or for one neighbour to visit another; but then it should not be very frequent; a man should not be always or often at his neighbour's house. So the words may be rendered, "make thy foot precious" or "rare at thy neighbour's house" ^F13; be seldom there; lest he be weary of thee, and [so] hate thee;
or, "lest he be sated with thee" ^F14; filled with thy company to a loathing of it, as the stomach with eating too much honey, and so his friendship be turned into hatred.

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FOOTNOTES:

F13 (rqx) "rarum fac", Montanus, Vatablus, Gejerus, Michaelis, Cocceius; Heb. "praetiosum fac", Piscator.
F14 (Kebvy Np) "ne forte satictur tui", Schultens; so Montanus; "saturatus", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

Proverbs 25:17 In-Context

15 Patience can persuade a prince, and soft speech can break bones.

16 Do you like honey? Don’t eat too much, or it will make you sick!

17 Don’t visit your neighbors too often, or you will wear out your welcome.

18 Telling lies about others is as harmful as hitting them with an ax, wounding them with a sword, or shooting them with a sharp arrow.

19 Putting confidence in an unreliable person in times of trouble is like chewing with a broken tooth or walking on a lame foot.